HK1177541A - Enabling advertises to bid on abstract objects - Google Patents

Description

Enabling advertisers to bid on abstract objects

Background

Cost-per-click (CPC) advertising in conventional search engines is currently commonly implemented by advertisers bidding on a particular dollar amount for search keywords. Therefore, when a user enters a search for a particular keyword, such as "lawn mower," the advertisement submitted by the advertiser that gave the highest bid will typically be selected for presentation on the results page. This approach does not apply directly to task/decision engines where users select "entities" or "actions" and refine their intent through multiple steps.

Increasingly, users search to complete "tasks," such as reserving a table at a restaurant, renting an online movie, purchasing a book, or reserving a trip. These tasks may be performed in association with various entities (e.g., people, places, and things), various actions (e.g., buy, sell, rent, etc.), and different vendors. For example, in completing a task, the user's intent is refined by the user performing one or more of the following actions: specifying entity parameters (e.g., cameras less than $ 200, locations flying to san francisco, or an original movie released in 2005 rather than reprinted in 2009); specifying actions related to the entity (e.g., rent, not buy); and a specified vendor.

When a user is working on a task, an advertiser may wish to display an advertisement related to a related or subsequent task. In one example, an advertiser may wish to present an advertisement for a service contract when a user purchases an electronic product from a website. In another example, an advertiser may wish to present an advertisement for a subscription dinner when a user has purchased a movie ticket. However, at present, such intent refinements are not readily adaptable to advertiser bids. That is, conventional search engines that accept bids for keywords are not designed to display advertisements submitted by advertisers that correspond to entities or actions that include tasks being performed by users. This deficiency of conventional search engines results in a poor user search experience and search engines that are not able to optimally monetize user searches.

Disclosure of Invention

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid, in isolation, in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Embodiments of the present invention introduce methods and search engines that attempt to monetize user intent by allowing advertisers to target abstract objects that reflect user intent disambiguation (disambiguation) selections. As one example, a vertical search (search vertical) that includes the searched entities and/or performed actions is monetized by allowing advertisers to bid on the entities and actions. In particular, an advertisement entry UI is provided herein that facilitates accepting bids by advertisers for "entities" (other than just keywords in a query) that a user is searching for, as well as "actions" related to those searched entities.

Typically, when conducting a search, a user interacts with a search engine. During interaction, the user performs a sequence of actions that inform the search engine about the user's true search intent (providing context to the initial query) and provide an understanding of the precise task the user is attempting to perform. In addition, the search engine may have a priori knowledge of a particular entity that the user is looking for during the search. The sequence of actions and the particular entity can be used to select an advertisement. For example, a user-initiated search for a particular entity (e.g., a restaurant) may elicit information about the entity, such as the location of the restaurant (e.g., streets, cities, and states), the type of food, price ranges, and so forth. Thus, the relevant information may be used by advertisers to bid on.

Drawings

Embodiments of the invention are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a typical computing device suitable for implementing embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram depicting a first illustrative UI display that includes a representation of an abstract object being searched by a user and an advertisement corresponding to the abstract object, in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary network environment suitable for use in implementing embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram depicting a second illustrative UI display that includes a representation of an abstract object being searched by a user and an advertisement corresponding to the abstract object, in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 5 depicts a schematic view of a third illustrative UI display that includes a representation of an abstract object being searched by a user and an advertisement corresponding to the abstract object in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 6 depicts a schematic view of a fourth illustrative UI display that includes a representation of an abstract object being searched by a user and an advertisement corresponding to the abstract object in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 7 depicts a schematic view of a fifth illustrative UI display that includes a representation of an abstract object being searched by a user and an advertisement corresponding to the abstract object in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 8 depicts a schematic view of a sixth illustrative UI display that includes a representation of an abstract object being searched by a user and an advertisement corresponding to the abstract object in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an exemplary network environment suitable for use in implementing embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 10 depicts a schematic view of a seventh illustrative UI display that includes a representation of an abstract object being searched by a user and an advertisement corresponding to the abstract object in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart describing an illustrative method for monetizing abstract objects in accordance with embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of an illustrative method for allowing a first advertiser to bid on its targeted abstract object in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The subject matter of embodiments of the inventions disclosed herein is described with specificity to meet statutory requirements. However, the description itself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent. Rather, the inventors have contemplated that the claimed subject matter might also be embodied in other ways, to include different steps or combinations of steps similar to the ones described in this document, in conjunction with other present or future technologies. Moreover, although the terms "step" and/or "block" may be used herein to connote different elements of methods employed, the terms should not be interpreted as implying any particular order among or between various steps herein disclosed unless and except when the order of individual steps is explicitly disclosed.

As will be seen from the following disclosure, various embodiments of the present invention relate to monetizing abstract objects using task-based engines (e.g., decision engines, task engines, individual applications or operations, applet systems, operating systems, and task-based mobile systems), or systems in general, that allow a user to execute tasks or applications by matching target abstract objects to the user's intent. To simplify the discussion, these engines and/or systems will be referred to hereinafter as "search engines".

Embodiments of the invention described herein include computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon. When executed, the computer-executable instructions perform a method for allowing an advertiser to bid on a targeted abstract object. In an embodiment, the method comprises the step of crawling (crawler) the network to mine (mine) abstract objects. As defined with greater specificity below, abstract objects describe a user's specific intent in performing a search event (e.g., shopping for an item online, booking a flight and/or hotel room, or researching a particular location). Typically, search engines are used to extract (distill) a user's specific intent from an assembly of the user's relevant interactions with the search engine.

Further, the method may comprise the steps of: an index is constructed with entries that reference abstract objects, and the index is saved in a location accessible to advertisers. When the index is stored in a location accessible to advertisers, the advertisers are allowed to view entries in the index, target at least one abstract object in the index, and place bids on the targeted abstract object. Upon receiving the "ad campaign" from the advertiser, the bid is stored in association with the targeted abstract object.

In a second illustrative embodiment, the present invention is directed to a computer system for selecting advertisements by using and monetizing entities. Typically, the computer system includes computer software components including the following: an input receiving component; a network crawling component; a publish component, an entity matching component, a spot-auctioning component; and a rendering component. The input receiving component is generally configured to detect user interaction when a search engine implements a search event. The web-crawling component is generally configured to mine entities from the detected records of user interactions. As discussed more fully below, an "entity" refers to a person, place, or thing represented by a particular online description. In addition, the web-crawling component can build and maintain an index that lists mined entities in an organized or hierarchical manner. A publishing component is provided to publish the index at an online location, allowing advertisers to navigate to the index and bid on one or more entities therein. The publishing component also receives bids associated with the advertisement to display and temporarily store the bids associated with the advertisement.

In an embodiment, the entity matching component is configured to compile user interactions on the search engine during a search event and compare the compiled user interactions with mined entities referenced by the index. The live auction component then selects an advertisement that is related to the bid received by the publishing component. In typical embodiments, selecting an advertisement includes: (a) identifying an entity in the index that matches the compiled user deals based on the comparison results (using an entity matching component), (b) identifying bids placed by advertisers targeting the identified entity, and (c) selecting an advertisement from a plurality of advertisements associated with the identified bids. The rendering component presents the selected advertisement in the UI display. Typically, the selected advertisement is placed in the UI display based on a visual arrangement of the related entities presented within the UI display.

In a third illustrative embodiment, a computerized method is provided for monetizing abstract objects. In one example, the method is performed by a search engine running on a processor. Initially, the method includes the step of providing an index referencing one or more abstract objects. In general, each of the abstract objects describes a user's specific intent in conducting a search event. As discussed more fully below, the specific intent may be extracted from a compilation of related interactions of the user with the search engine.

The method may further comprise the steps of: the method includes receiving an abstract object selected from an index, receiving a bid for the selected abstract object, and receiving user interaction information once a user conducts a search event at a search engine. Typically, the user interaction information includes query strings, selection actions within the UI, user profiles that capture historical search behavior of the user, and/or query logs that capture historical search behavior of multiple users. Typically, the user interaction information matches the selected abstract object. The amount of the bids for the matched selected abstract objects is charged and the charge amount is recorded for billing purposes.

Having described an overview of embodiments of the present invention, an exemplary operating environment in which embodiments of the present invention are implemented is described below in order to provide a general context for various aspects of the present invention.

Referring initially to FIG. 1, in particular, an exemplary operating environment for implementing embodiments of the present invention is shown and designated generally as computing device 100. Computing device 100 is but one example of a suitable computing environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the invention. Neither should the computing device 100 be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of illustrative components.

The invention may be described in the general context of computer code or machine-useable instructions, including computer-executable instructions such as program modules, being executed by a computer or other machine, such as a personal data assistant or other handheld device. Generally, program modules including routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., refer to code that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The invention may be implemented in a variety of system configurations, including hand-held devices, consumer electronics, general-purpose computers, more specialized computing devices, and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network.

Referring to FIG. 1, computing device 100 includes a bus 110, which bus 110 is coupled, directly or indirectly, to: memory 112, one or more processors 114, one or more presentation components 116, input/output (I/O) ports 118, input/output components 120, and an illustrative power supply 122. Bus 110 represents what may be one or more busses (such as an address bus, data bus, or combination thereof). Although the various blocks of FIG. 1 are shown with solid lines for the sake of clarity, in reality, delineating various components is not so clear, and metaphorically, the solid lines would more accurately be grey and fuzzy. For example, a presentation component such as a display device may be considered an I/O component. Further, the processor has a memory. The inventors recognize that such is the nature of the art, and reiterate that the diagram of FIG. 1 is merely illustrative of a typical computing device that can be used in connection with one or more embodiments of the present invention. No distinction is made between categories such as "workstation," server, "" laptop, "" handheld device, "etc., as all are considered within the scope of fig. 1 and are referenced as" computing device.

Computing device 100 typically includes a variety of computer-readable media. Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by computing device 100 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or process for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, Digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can accessed by computing device 100. Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term "modulated data signal" means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal, as described below. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

The memory 112 includes computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory. The memory may be removable, non-removable, or a combination thereof. Typical hardware devices include solid state memory, hard disk drives, optical disk drives, and the like. Computing device 100 includes one or more processors that read data from various entities, such as memory 112 or I/O components 120. The presentation component 116 presents data indications to a user or other device. Typical presentation components include a display device, speakers, a printing component, a vibrating component, and the like.

I/O ports 118 allow computing device 100 to be logically coupled to other devices, which may be built-in, including I/O components 120. Illustrative components include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, printer, wireless device, and the like.

As described above, embodiments of the present invention employ a variety of techniques to help disambiguate user intent during a search event. One of these techniques involves determining the entities that are actually of interest to the user. Once the search event is extracted to one or more entities, the advertiser is allowed to bid on those entities. Thus, the techniques described below help match an advertiser's bid to the user's intent, such that the user intent disambiguation techniques used to generate matches are sufficiently transparent to the advertiser.

Conventional search engines that receive an advertiser's bid for a keyword cannot provide the advertiser with knowledge of the selections made by the search engine when placing an advertisement submitted by the advertiser. Thus, keywords are also triggered at the following times: when advertisers do not wish to display their advertisements, or when advertisements are misused or unrelated to the current search event. This inefficiency is further compounded when a multi-step task is performed at a particular stage (which does not initially appear to be related to each other or to a particular keyword). Thus, using entities and other abstract objects, rather than keywords, allows advertisers to better understand the context in which they place advertisements.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to using one or more abstract objects to solicit advertiser bids and invoke presentation of selected advertisements corresponding to abstract objects that are currently occurring during a search. In particular, embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method to allow advertisers to target abstract objects, resulting in monetization: (a) an entity that emerges (surface) within the results page, (b) an entity action detected by the search engine, or (c) a task being performed as a result of a user interacting with the search engine. Generally, these "abstract objects" operate as actionable tasks, actions, and/or entities that cannot be adequately managed via keywords. That is, the abstract object takes into account the context of the user's search event, which exposes the user's true intent, as opposed to merely using keyword matching techniques, which do not always target the user's intent. In general, abstract objects may include, but are not limited to, the following: entities, entity classes, entity actions, tasks, and providers.

As used herein, the term "entity" generally refers to a logical object represented by a particular online description. These logical objects may be a person, a place, a thing, or any combination thereof. For example, some logical object instances are as follows: movie Avatar released in 200 years for 9; shiva restaurant on Castro street, Mountain View, Calif.; CEO-Steve balloon mers from Microsoft; flight # AS331 from Alaska airlines, san Jose to Seattle; and Canon Powershot A3100 IS digital cameras.

Typically, entities will be listed in the index or may be referenced by entries in the index. In embodiments, the index represents an entity by description (e.g., Canon PowerShot A3100 IS digital camera), an entity by an identifier from a well-known company (e.g., a tag identification), an entity by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) or a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). For example, a movie may be identified by a URL that points to one or more websites, such as websites owned by Internet movie databases (IMDb), AMC entertainment, or Netflix. Thus, the movie Avatar sold by IMDB in 2009 may represent http:// www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/, by a particular URL, which navigates to the IMDb website and references Avatar.

In practice, advertisers wish to target, for example, a particular movie, rather than another movie, book, or other product with a similar name. Such advertisers are able to do so by specifying the instance URL above. Once the instance URL is specified, the search engine identifies the appropriate advertiser based on the user's intent. That is, once the user navigates to the IMDb website while referring to the movie Avatar, the search engine identifies the advertiser specifying the URL. In the example of an Avatar restaurant where the user is actually interested in Sausalitio, California, represented by the specific URL http:// www.yelp.com/biz/avataris-retaurant-reusalito, the search engine avoids placing movie ads submitted by advertisers who wish to target a particular movie in the immediately previous URL. Advantageously, the use of a URL as an entity precludes the selection of irrelevant advertisements for presentation, thereby enhancing the user's search experience and potentially increasing the monetization opportunities of the search event.

While various examples of how entities may be represented have been described above, it should be understood and appreciated that other types of suitable identifiers may be used to represent entities, and that embodiments of the invention are not limited to those identifiers (e.g., URLs) described herein. For example, an entity may be specified by, but is not limited to, the following designators: a Universal Product Code (UPC), latitude and longitude coordinates of the location, and a street address of the location. There are many examples of such entities and their identifiers because the search keyword store requires a description in a number of ambiguities.

Another type of abstract object for monetizing search events is an "entity class," which generally refers to a group of entities that share a common attribute. For example, "entity classes" include groups of entities, such as movies, grouped by one or more shared attributes or parameters; movies with "Avatar" in the title; all movies directed by James Cameron; a restaurant in Castro street of Mountain View, Calif.; indian restaurant of Mountain View; CEO of a wealth 500-strength enterprise; flights from san Jose to Seattle; an electronic product; a digital camera; and digital cameras under $ 200.

In operation, when a user's intent during a search event points to an entity classification, those particular entities within the entity classification that are targeted by advertisers will match the search event. Embodiments of the present invention also allow advertisers to target entity classifications when bidding for advertising space. For example, an advertiser may locate "restaurant in Mountain View of California" listed above. Subsequently, when a user enters a search query involving Shiva's restaurant located in Mountain View, Calif., the search engine will likely identify a match between this search query and the advertiser's target entity category. In another example, if a user located close to the Mountain View city (known by examining a user profile associated with the user) enters a search query regarding "restaurants," the search engine would match the entity classification "restaurants in Mountain View, Calif.

In yet another example, when an advertiser places a bid and submits an advertisement to be displayed if the entity classification is met, the advertiser targets the entity classification "digital camera under $ 200". Subsequently, if the user enters a search query that includes the phrase "cheap digital camera," the search engine chooses to match the target entity classification "digital camera under $ 200" with the search query. Thus, the search engine may select and display advertisements submitted by advertisers that correspond to the user's true search intent (i.e., products within a particular price range) rather than performing rigid keyword matching, which can result in unrelated advertisements that relate to promotions or temporary discounts.

Typically, entity classes are classified according to some criteria to form an "entity domain". These "entity domains" are general groupings covering a wide range of entities, which are used for general partitioning between entity classes. For example, entity domains include, but are not limited to, the following examples: automobiles, movies, businesses local to the user, transportation, and electronic devices. Thus, an entity domain represents the highest level of an entity classifier in a hierarchy of entity domains, entity classes, and individual entities.

Inherent to many entity domain entities are entity actions. As used herein, the phrase "entity action" is not limited to any particular action, but broadly refers to one or more online actions performed by a user through user interaction with a search engine. Generally, actions of an entity are directed to the entity and/or entity class. For example, in the movie domain, some typical entity actions include the following: purchase, rent, stream, watch trailers, read comments, and book tickets. When conducting a search event, the user may apply one or more of these entity actions to an entity (e.g., movie Avatar) or entity classification (e.g., all movies directed by James Cameron). In another example, in a user geographic area, some typical physical actions include the following: reservation, read menu, or map indication. When conducting a search event, the user can apply one or more of these entity actions to an entity (e.g., Shiva restaurant) or an entity category (e.g., restaurant of Mountain View).

The sequence of entity actions performed within a search event may be combined to form a higher level task, such as planning a night trip, querying a stock price, ordering a take-away, or planning a vacation. As used herein, the term "task" refers to a high-level concept that describes the sum of multiple steps performed by a user during a search event (e.g., searching for an entity, taking an entity action, etc.). Thus, a task represents a single semantic expression that captures the implicit meaning of multiple natural language search queries and/or user-issued entity actions. Typically, search engines are able to determine relationships between queries and actions, as well as extract common attributes of queries and actions, focusing on the underlying (overplaying) task that the user is performing. One example of a sequence of entity actions that may be defined by a task is a vertical search. In one example, the phrase "vertical search" refers to a search query that is narrowed or refined using parameters that are not the parameters originally present in the search query. These additional parameters include, for example, additional search terms added to the query or link selections within a set of search results.

The concept of longitudinal search may be applied to other types of searches than queries. In one example, a vertical search involves a vertical image (image vertical) that includes a search for many physical pictures in common. In another example, the vertical search involves a vertical map (map vertical) that includes searching for locations within the map by exploring zoom levels or scrolling through particular grid areas on the map. Advantageously, these vertical searches, as well as other non-mentioned vertical searches, allow advertisers to target various tasks that are not available using only keywords.

Returning now to FIG. 2, illustrative expressions for advertisements, entities, entity classes, and entity actions will be discussed. In general, the schematic diagram shown in FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative UI display 200 that includes abstract objects searched by a user and an expression for an advertisement corresponding to one of the abstract objects in accordance with embodiments of the invention. As can be seen, the UI display 200 is a movie listings web page for "movie # 1". This web page may be obtained by a user entering a search query that includes the phrase "movie currently playing," and then selecting a link in search results generated in response to executing the search query. The phrase "search query," as used herein, generally refers to any type of request containing one or more query terms or phrases that can be submitted to a search engine (or search engines) to identify search results based on content contained in the search query. Search results identified by a search query may be reformatted into a representation of results generated in response to the search query. For example, the search results can be instant answers, advertisements, images, and other related items.

The UI display 200 includes a title 210 that provides detailed information about "movie # 1". In addition, the highest ranked theater location 240 and venue/show time information 250 are highlighted. The ranking and highlighting is based on the theatres that are closest to the user performing the search event (e.g., based on the user's known location information via a user profile). An interface element 220 of "buy tickets" may be presented to the user to facilitate purchase of a ticket for "movie # 1" at the nearest theater via an advertiser. The interface element 220 (e.g., link, anchor, or hyperlink) may be an advertisement that is placed (e.g., inserted into a sponsored zone) on the UI display 200 as a result of the processing described below. In addition, the search engine displays a link 230 for the ticket retailer (advertiser) in a location proximate to the interface element 220 to compete with sales information typically displayed within the UI display 200 and provide context for the interface element 220. As can be seen, the "sponsored" tab separates the interface element 220 from the rest of the web content that the UI display is emerging, and indicates that the entity action associated with the interface element 220 is an advertisement. In other embodiments, interface element 220 may be distinguished from the content of the network by employing coloring or highlighting of interface element 220.

In one embodiment, sponsored interface element 220 is presented as a result of an advertiser submitting an advertisement and determining that an abstract object is targeted to trigger the advertisement. For example, advertisers (Fandango ™ systems) determine to target "movie # 1" as the entity they wish to display their advertisement. As discussed above, the user's vertical search includes a general query for "movie currently playing" and a selection of a link in the search results. Thus, a keyword-based search engine will not match an advertisement with the UI display 200. However, the techniques introduced by the present invention allow aggregation of queries and actions taken by a user during a search event and decryption of the user's true intent (i.e., vertical search). In this case, the true intention of the user is to see "movie # 1". Once "movie # 1" is identified, the search engine then matches the entity representing "movie # 1" and selects an advertisement, such as that of advertiser Fandango, from the advertisers targeting "movie # 1". Thus, by using abstract objects instead of traditional keyword matching mechanisms, a high correlation between the user's intent and the advertisement selected for display may be maintained.

The system architecture of a method for conducting a monetization user-conducted search event through the use of abstract objects will now be discussed with reference to FIG. 3. First, FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a distributed computing environment 300 suitable for use in implementing embodiments of the present invention. The example computing environment 300 includes a user device 310, data stores 330 and 335, a web server 350, a mobile device 370, and a network 380 interconnecting each of these items. Each of the user device 310, the data stores 330 and 335, the server 350, and the mobile device 370 shown in fig. 3 may take the form of various types of computing devices, such as, for example, the computing device 100 described above in connection with fig. 1. By way of example only and not limitation, user device 310, server 350, and/or mobile device 370 may be a personal computer, desktop computer, laptop computer, consumer electronic device, handheld device (e.g., personal digital assistant), various servers, processing devices, and/or the like. It should be noted, however, that the invention is not limited to implementation on such computing devices, but may be implemented on any of a variety of different types of computing devices within the scope of embodiments of the invention.

Typically, each of the user device 310, the server 350, and the mobile device 370 includes or is linked to some form of computing unit (e.g., central processing unit, microprocessor, etc.) to support the operation of the components running thereon (e.g., the web crawler component 351, the publishing component 352, the entity matching component 353, the input receiving component 354, the live auction component 355, the rendering component 356, etc.). As used herein, the phrase "computing unit" is generally a special purpose computing device having processing power and memory, which supports operating software for supporting the execution of software, applications, and computer programs thereon. In one example, the computing unit is configured with tangible hardware elements or machines that may be integrated or operably coupled to the user device 310, the server 350, and the mobile device 370 to enable each device to perform communication-related processing and other operations (e.g., accessing the user profile data store 335 and/or the query log data store 330 using the ad selection service 345 to filter ads based on user behavior). In another example, the computing unit includes a processor (not shown) coupled to computer readable media housed by each of the user device 310, the server 350, and the mobile device 370.

Generally speaking, a computer-readable medium includes a physical memory that stores (at least temporarily) a plurality of computer software components executable by a processor. As used herein, the term "processor" is not meant to be limiting, including any element of the computing unit that has computing capabilities. In this capacity, the processor may be configured to be a tangible article of processing instructions. In typical embodiments, processing may involve fetching, decoding/interpreting, executing, and writing back instructions.

Further, in addition to processing instructions, the processor may transfer information to and from other resources that are integral to or disposed on the user device 310, the server 350, and the mobile device 370. Generally, resources refer to software components or hardware mechanisms that cause the user device 310, the server 350, and the mobile device 370 to perform particular functions. By way of example only, once a target abstract object is matched to a user intent of a search event, resources hosted by web server 350 operate to assist advertisement selection service 345 in selecting advertisements.

The user device 310 includes an input device (not shown) and a presentation device 315. Generally, an input device is provided to receive input that affects, among other things, the search results and advertisements 325 rendered by the web browser 322 that appear on the UI display 320. Illustrative input devices include the mouse, joystick, keyboard, microphone, I/O components 120 of fig. 1, or any other component capable of receiving user input and communicating an indication of that input to the user device 310. By way of example only, the input device facilitates entry of a search query that indicates to the advertisement selection service 345 that there is an opportunity to present the advertisement 325.

In an embodiment, the presentation device 315 is configured to render and/or present the UI display 320 thereon. The presentation device 315, which is operatively coupled to the output of the user device 310, can be configured as any presentation component capable of providing information to a user, such as a digital monitor, an electronic display panel, a touch screen, an analog set-top box, a plasma screen, an audio speaker, a Braille pad (Braille pad), and so forth. In a typical embodiment, the presentation device 315 is configured to present rich content, such as advertisements 325 and digital images. In another exemplary embodiment, the rendering device 315 is capable of rendering other forms of media (i.e., audio signals).

The data stores 330 and 335 are generally configured to store information related to user interaction information. In operation, when a user implements a search event at the search engine, the search engine may access user interaction information such as a query string within a search query entered during the search event, a selection action within a UI display, a user profile 336 on a user profile store 335 (capturing historical search behavior of the user), or a query log 331 on a query log data store 330 (capturing historical search behavior of multiple users). Based in part on the user interaction information, the advertisement selection service 345 (e.g., Adcenter) selects or filters the displayed advertisement 325.

In various embodiments, the user interaction information may be provided by a third party service that is a partner of the ad selection service 345, or dynamically tracked and recorded/analyzed by a search engine in communication with the ad selection service 345. In other embodiments, the data stores 330 and 335 are configured to be searchable for appropriate access to the stored user interaction information. For example, the data stores 330 and 335 may search for data relating to a group of users (e.g., query logs 331) or data targeted to the interests of a particular user (e.g., user profile 336). It will be understood and appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the information stored in the data stores 330 and 335 is configurable and includes any information relating to the storage and/or retrieval of user interaction information. The content and quantity of the user interaction information are not intended to limit the scope of embodiments of the present invention in any way. Further, although illustrated as single, independent components, in practice data stores 330 and 335 may be multiple databases, such as a database cluster, portions of which may reside on client device 310, server 350, mobile device 370, another external computing device (not shown), and/or any combination thereof.

Such a distributed computing environment 300 is only one example of a suitable environment that may be implemented to implement various aspects of the present invention and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the invention. Neither should the illustrative distributed computing environment 300 be interpreted as having a dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of devices 310, 350, and 370, storage devices 330 and 335, and components 351 and 356 as described below. In some embodiments, one or more of the components 351-356 may be implemented as stand-alone devices. In other embodiments, one or more of components 351 and 356 may be integrated directly into server 350 or interconnected to form a distributed node of server 350. It is to be understood and appreciated that the components 351-356 (shown in FIG. 3) are exemplary in nature and in number and should not be construed as limiting.

Thus, any number of components may be used to achieve the desired functionality within the scope of embodiments of the present invention. Although the various components of fig. 3 are shown with solid lines for the sake of clarity, in reality, delineating various components is not so clear, and metaphorically, the solid lines would more accurately be grey and fuzzy. Further, although some of the components of fig. 3 are depicted as single blocks, this depiction is exemplary in nature and in number and should not be construed as limiting (e.g., while only one rendering device 315 is shown, more rendering devices may be communicatively coupled to client device 310).

Furthermore, the devices of a typical system architecture are interconnected by any method known in the relevant art. For example, the user device 310, the server 350, and the mobile device 370 are operatively coupled by a distributed computing environment that includes a plurality of computing devices coupled to one another by one or more networks (not shown). In an embodiment, the network may include, but is not limited to, one or more Local Area Networks (LANs) and/or Wide Area Networks (WANs). Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets, and the Internet. Accordingly, the network is not described further herein.

Operationally, the component 351-356 is designed to perform processes that include at least: when a search event is conducted, one or more advertisements 325 relevant to the user's intent are automatically selected for display by the web browser 322. As a result, the processing performed by the ad selection service 345 (i.e., part of the search engine) can monetize various abstract objects (e.g., entities appearing on the search results page, queried entity categories, one or a series of detected actions, pending/completed tasks, or people, places, or things represented by a particular online description) that capture various user intents in a manner that keyword-type search engines cannot implement. First, the ad selection service 345 includes a web-crawling component 351 that mines abstract objects from a record of user interactions. In one example, user interactions are mined by examining real-time interactions of users with networks (e.g., private corporate intranets, the Internet 390, broad advertising markets, and others). By way of example, the web-crawling component 351 deeply crawls data stores interconnected via a network to extract user interactions. This includes deep crawling the data stores 330 and 335 to access and aggregate the user interaction information stored therein.

Generally, the process of mining abstract objects via web crawling is performed offline in order to build and maintain an index that lists the mined abstract objects. In an embodiment, the index is built with entries that reference mined abstract objects. In addition, the index is stored in a location accessible to advertisers 341, 342, and 343, allowing them to view the entries of the index.

In a typical embodiment, the web-crawling component 351 is configured with some intelligence such that it can update the index continuously or intermittently (e.g., over a predetermined period of time). For example, the intelligence may interpret human-generated actions to understand what the user is currently doing online, such as what tasks are most popular. In another example, the intelligence dynamically monitors user interaction information (e.g., user profiles 336 and query logs 331), learns about, and perceives trends in, frequently occurring/current search behavior. Finally, once the human-generated actions are interpreted and the user interaction information monitored, the intelligence of the web-crawling component 351 can automatically add or drop indexed abstract objects without human intervention, typically when the detected behavior meets some predetermined criteria. By way of example, the web-crawling component 351 automatically adds to the index generic entity actions taken in relation to a certain entity classification. In another example, the web-crawling component 351 processes previous search queries and clicks on logs to estimate the likelihood of future clicks, thereby estimating the nature and relevance of abstract objects. When the nature or relevance of an abstract object falls below a specified threshold, the abstract object is reconfigured or simply removed from the index.

The task of exposing the indices in the online locations to advertisers 341, 342, and 343 is typically performed by publishing component 352 via an ad entry UI 340, the ad entry UI 340 acting as an interface between an ad selection service 345 and the advertisers 341, 342, and 343. In one instance, the ad entry UI 340 is used to publish an index to advertisers 341, 342, and 343 so that they can navigate an organizational list of abstract objects. In another example, the ad entry UI 340 is operable to receive selections in an index that identify target abstract objects or project (hoc) keyword entries associated with abstract objects. Once targeted to one or more abstract objects, advertisers 341, 342, and 343 place bids 344, 346, and 347, respectively, on the targeted abstract objects. These bids 344, 346, and 347 are associated with the advertisements submitted by the advertisers 341, 342, and 343. These advertisements (e.g., advertisement 325) may be displayed by web browser 322 when the targeted abstract object matches the user intent determined from the search event and when one or more of advertisers 341, 342, and 343 wins a live auction that weighs the value of bids 344, 346, and 347, among other considerations.

The following discussion is about the manner in which advertisers are used to target abstract objects when they place bids for a live auction and should not be construed as limiting to any particular embodiment below. First, targeting includes an advertiser specifying various entities, entity classes, actions, tasks, or any combination thereof with which the advertiser wishes to display advertisements related thereto. In one example, advertisers bid on entities by specifying an entity description, such as a URL, where a match occurs when the specified URL is displayed or selected on a search results page. Specifying the URL includes selecting a predefined option within the ad entry UI 340. For example, an advertiser selects a "primary resource" such as a manufacturer or service provider (e.g., Netflix for movies or Amazon for shopping) and/or a "secondary resource" such as an entity page of the manufacturer (e.g., Canon site for a particular Canon camera), a web page where the advertiser represents the entity itself (e.g., a Netflix page for an "Avatar" movie about James Cameron from which a member can rent or stream the movie), and a reservation/purchase page for the entity (e.g., a page on Open Table for Shiva's restaurant in Mountain View through which a Table can be reserved). In this manner, the ad entry UI 340 allows the advertiser to select the components or blocks (e.g., primary and secondary resources) that compose the URL while the search engine proceeds to identify the actual corresponding URL that is actually used for entity matching. That is, the search engine automatically discovers different URLs that match a particular entity (e.g., Canon digital camera) that was specified by the advertiser in a transparent manner using any available technique, such as an entity matching algorithm.

While various different methods for determining a target entity have been described, it should be understood and appreciated that other suitable types of methods and interfaces for selecting and bidding on entities may be used, and that embodiments of the present invention are not limited to those methods for converting selections or inputs of entities to URLs described herein. For example, an advertiser may determine a target entity by specifying a UPC code, a serial number of a product, a business street address, a latitude/longitude pair of location, or some other domain-specific identifier for the target entity.

In other embodiments, advertisers may determine the target entity classification through a variety of techniques. By way of example, an advertiser may specify an entity classification by the following techniques: a domain (e.g., movie, shopping, travel, etc.) is specified, and then keywords are specified that abstract entities from within the specified domain (e.g., "camera," "science fiction movie," "flight from san francisco to australia," etc.). In another example, an advertiser may specify an entity classification by: a domain is specified, and then parameters are specified that point to attributes of a particular entity with entity classification (e.g., "canon camera", "science fiction movie of Ridley Scott", "sydney five-star hotel", etc.). In yet another example, the advertiser determines the target entity classification by: a "directory" of an index listing predefined entities and/or entity classes is browsed (the directory discloses the predefined entities and/or entity classes as selectable options) and desired entities and/or entity classes are specified from the directory.

In an embodiment, to target entity actions, advertisers specify their selection of entities, entity categories, or tasks, entity actions that they wish to target using the ad entry UI 340. In one example, indexing a catalog allows advertisers to find all popular or recent entity actions (e.g., rentals, purchases, and streaming) defined by the search engine that are commonly/frequently invoked by users in connection with entities, entity classifications, or tasks. For example, when looking up the entity classification "movies directed by James Cameron," popular entity actions that occur include "rent", "buy", or "bid" entity actions. These entity actions are typically directed to all movie entities within the James Cameron catalog or specifically to certain movies that the advertiser currently offers or wishes to sell. For example, if an advertiser represents a retailer of movies and other entertainment, the advertiser determines a physical action that targets "sell" while, at the same time, specifying only those movies that remain in the current listing. In operation, after determining the targeted entity action, those bids placed by advertisers for the targeted entity action are considered when the targeted entity action matches the user intent or user selection in the search event.

In another embodiment, the ad entry UI 340 may be used to allow advertisers to target tasks. In general, targeting task determinations may be performed in a manner similar to targeting entity classification determinations, where an advertiser simply specifies keywords related to task attributes, such as planning a vacation. In another embodiment, the targeting task determination may be defined by the advertiser. For example, a task may be defined by an advertiser to be invoked when user activity occurring during a search event satisfies one or more criteria. In one example, the "plan at night" task defined by the advertiser may be determined to be invoked when both the physical actions "rent movies" or "order home food" are satisfied. Thus, it is to be understood and appreciated that advertisers may specify a single step (e.g., an entity action or search query entry), a multi-step campaign (e.g., a task), an intermediate step of a task (e.g., an entity classification), or any combination thereof, when targeting abstract objects for their ad campaign.

Thus, the rate paid by the advertiser may vary depending on the number and specificity of abstract objects determined to be objects. In one example, bids accepted for precise advertiser-defined tasks are higher than bids accepted for broad search engine-defined entity categories. However, while a specific example of setting rates for abstract objects has been described, it should be understood and appreciated that other types of suitable pricing schemes may be used, and that embodiments of the invention are not limited to increasing bid amounts in parallel with increasing the specificity of abstract objects.

In addition to determining the target abstract object, an ad entry UI may be used to allow an advertiser to specify environmental information of the user (e.g., the user's location, the time of a search event, the user's demographics, and other environmental variables) to limit the target abstract object. For example, an advertiser may determine that the object is the task "plan evening," but limit the task to be invoked when the user lives in Mountain View, Calif., because the advertiser's goods or services are local to the user. In other embodiments, the environmental information relates to information about competitors, information about multiple users, information about third-party entities, and so forth. Further, in addition to specifying contextual information consistent with targeting abstract objects, publishing component 352 allows advertisers to target entities, entity classes, tasks, entity actions, and any combination of traditional keyword-based triggers. Still further, advertisers are allowed to target other parameters that narrow entities, entity classes, entity actions, or tasks, such as suppliers (e.g., competitors) that sell entities. In this case, certain advertisements (e.g., providing special offers for potential customers) may be designated for display in association with competitor's web pages, while other advertisements for the same entity (e.g., providing incentives to existing consumers) may be designated for display in association with the advertiser's own web pages.

Once advertisers 341, 342, and 343 have presented bids 344, 346, and 347, respectively, these bids 344, 346, and 347 are received by the publishing component 352. The publishing component facilitates the temporary storage of bids 344, 346, and 347 in association with submitted ads and targeted abstract objects and sometimes in association with indicia of advertisers 341, 342, and 343 responsible for targeting abstract objects. The stored associations of the targeted abstract objects, bids, advertisers, and/or advertisements reside in one or more locations, such as the server 350 or a remote data store (e.g., an ad campaign database).

Generally, the input receiving component 354 is configured to detect user interaction when a search engine executes a search event. As used herein, the phrase "search event" is not meant to be limiting, but rather includes any form of online search activity performed by one or more users. In an exemplary embodiment, the search event includes a search for one or more related items over a network (e.g., the Internet 390) over a predetermined time range. By way of example, the search event includes a user of the user device 310 or the mobile device 370 searching for airlines, taxis, and hotels on the network 380 that are related to a common city over a brief time frame, such as a few days. In another example, the search event occurs during a single online session, where the user is researching and ultimately purchasing a product.

Upon detecting user interaction with the search engine, the input receiving component 354 can analyze the user interaction to identify, infer, and extract abstract objects therefrom. In an embodiment, analyzing user interactions includes monitoring user online navigation to detect user-implemented actions and user-entered search queries. In an example, extracting abstract objects includes assembling actions and search queries into a vertical search (e.g., purchasing various products) and attempting to pair one or more abstract objects (e.g., tasks) with the vertical search based on the content herein. In another example, extracting abstract objects from a search event includes comparing a search query or selected link to a predefined URL (e.g., an entity) to determine if a match occurs. In yet another example, extracting the object includes examining a context of the action performed by the user to determine whether the user action conforms to a predefined entity action. Thus, extracting abstract objects may be a single step or multi-step process that may extend to one or more sessions. Once the abstract object or objects are extracted from the user's search events, they are fed to the entity matching component 353 for monetization.

The ad selection service 345 portion of the search engine may also include an entity matching component 353 that is generally configured to compile user interactions at the search engine during a search event (infer abstract objects from the search event) and compare the compiled user interactions with mined and/or targeted abstract objects. In an example, the input receiving component 354 is responsible for deriving abstract objects, as described above, and, therefore, discussion of this process is not repeated.

The process of comparing inferred abstract objects with mined abstract objects of an index to find matches will now be described. Advantageously, this comparison process compares the user intent (i.e., inferred from the search query entry and/or user-initiated selection during the search event) to the abstract objects such that advertisements associated with the matching abstract objects are displayed in relevant locations of the relevant web page, as discussed more fully below. Initially, in embodiments, this comparison process is performed online and dynamically during a search event, although, conversely, the process of deriving abstract objects is typically performed offline. It is to be appreciated and understood that various mechanisms for comparing the derived abstract object from the input receiving component 354 to the target abstract object from the publishing component 352 can be employed by the entity matching component 353, such as entity resolution or link.

In an exemplary embodiment, the comparison process is performed in a substantially continuous manner. Thus, the abstract objects for which matches are located are identified in real time, allowing appropriate advertisements to be displayed as the user navigates between web pages. For example, when a user selects a link to a particular URL, the entity matching component 353 searches for an entity corresponding to the particular URL. If a match is achieved for the particular URL, the entity matching component 353 identifies the advertiser targeting the URL entity and accesses the bid placed for the URL entity by the identified advertiser. These accessed bids are passed to the live auction component 355 to determine winning advertisers.

In an embodiment, the comparison process includes matching based on user interactions conducted during the search event plus possible subsequent user interactions that are expected in the near future ("expected actions"). For example, a user enters the search query "status of flight 331" when looking for a flight from san Jose to Seattle. Current keyword-based systems are unable to find suitable advertisements that match the search query. However, using a comparison process, the entity matching component 353 can infer a correct user intent and can anticipate subsequent steps in a search event, or anticipating actions, including "Seattle's limousine," Seattle's restaurants, "or" Seattle's hotels. Thus, the entity matching component 353 can match relevant tasks (e.g., planning a trip in Seattle), entities (e.g., a luxury hotel in Seattle), and/or entity classifications (e.g., a flight to Seattle over $ 300) to the initial search query. Thus, the prospective action allows advertisers to submit advertisements associated with targeted abstract objects that do not directly relate to the derived abstract object. For example, when the deduced task involves booking a hotel, the suppliers bid to show an advertisement for their taxi service.

Once the comparison process is performed and the live auction component 355 is notified of the matching target abstract object, the live auction component 355 performs the following processes: one or more advertisements associated with the respective bids received at the publishing component 352 are selected for display to the user, such as at a Graphical User Interface (GUI) display of the presentation device 315 or the mobile device 370. As used herein, "bid" means a contract as follows: when an advertiser wins a live auction at the time of a search event, the advertiser will pay the search engine a certain amount if the advertisement is displayed to the user, clicked by the user, caused to purchase, etc.

In typical embodiments, the advertisement selection process generally includes the following steps: identify abstract objects in the index that match the user's intent, as communicated from the entity matching component 353; identifying bids placed by one or more advertisers targeting the identified abstract objects; and selecting at least one advertisement from a plurality of advertisements associated with the identified bid. Typically, selecting an advertisement based in part on the identified bid includes conducting a live auction. Live auctions rely on various criteria to determine the best advertisement. In one example, the live auction relies on, but is not limited to, one or more of the following criteria for determining the best advertisement: expected revenue in terms of bid value; the quality or relevance of the advertisement in the context of the user intent and/or user profile (i.e., the web content corresponds to the requirements of the advertisement); and likelihood of clicking (i.e., not a misleading link).

In other embodiments, the best advertisement is determined by: bids are ranked in descending order via some fixed function (e.g., profit maximization as a strict function of bid value), and a predefined number of advertisements are selected for display from the highest ranked bids. In one example, the predefined number of advertisements depends on the size of the user interface element, which exposes the advertisements in terms of the available space on the web page allocated to the advertisements, as described below. Once an advertisement is selected and displayed, advertisers who submit advertisements are charged their bid amount when a user clicks on the advertisement. In another example, a Vickrey-type price auction may manage the amount to be charged to an advertiser submitting a click advertisement. Any other auction mechanism is possible as well as bulk advertising sales. For example, a new supplier of movie rentals may target each "lease" or "stream" action on a search engine on a movie entity, all at a monthly fixed price. Alternatively, in another example, the same vendor targets a competitor, such as Netflix, so that whenever a search engine senses Netflix entity action, the new vendor charges each ad placement on the Netflix website. It should be understood and appreciated that while embodiments of the present invention are described herein in terms of auction-based advertisement placement, such as cost-per-click (CPC) advertisements, other embodiments of the present invention include other advertisement placement mechanisms suitable for publisher or advertiser targeted advertisement sales.

Finally, the advertisement selection service 345 includes a rendering component 356 that presents selected advertisements as UI elements within the UI display (e.g., the UI display 320) based on the visual arrangement of the items on the UI display. First, any of a variety of types of "interface elements" may be used to display the selected advertisement. In one embodiment, the type (in part) of interface elements used to display the selected advertisement depends on how the items are displayed on the UI display (e.g., entity actions), allowing the rendering component 356 to provide richer, more relevant content on each web page of the search event.

For example, referring to the UI display of FIG. 4, as shown by reference numerals 401, 402, and 403, the entity actions are displayed as a horizontal list, and selection of the entity action ("rent the movie # 1)") 402 displays an advertisement 430 based on an abstract object (e.g., the highest ranked advertisement selected by a live auction). As shown, an interface element representing an advertisement 430 may be placed within a sponsored zone on a pop-up window, which appears upon selection of the entity action 402. To distinguish the ad 430 interface element from non-sponsored provider interface elements (e.g., Blockbuster and Netflix), the ad 430 interface element may be labeled "sponsored", positioned adjacent to bold action text, provided with banner text 210, and/or accompanied by a descriptive URL.

In one example, once an advertiser submitting advertisement 430 wins a live auction for the entity action "rent" associated with the entity category "movie" or associated with the entity "movie #1," the advertisement 430 interface element is selected for display. The interface element representing advertisement 430 is then inserted into a predetermined sponsored zone within the pop-up window assigned for the advertisement. If there is still a clear area within the sponsored zone after inserting the advertisement 430 interface element, the next ranked advertisement is selected as an alternative in the live auction for insertion into the sponsored zone. It is to be understood and appreciated that advertisement 430 interface elements and non-sponsored interface elements 410 and 420 are exemplary in number and may be organized in any logical manner within the area provided by the pop-up window.

Further, the interface elements 410, 420, and 430 change based on which entity actions 401, 402, and 403 are selected. In a typical embodiment, the non-sponsored interface elements that are displayed upon user selection of a "share" or "buy" entity action 401 and 403 are related in some way to those entity actions 401 and 403 (e.g., the link navigates to a website that incentivizes the user to share comments about movie #1 or purchase tickets to watch movie # 1), as described below. In addition, sponsored interface elements that are displayed upon user selection of "share" or "buy" entity actions 401 and 403, or advertisements selected in a live auction, are selected because the winning advertiser targets the entity action "share" or "buy," respectively. Thus, in the embodiment discussed above in FIG. 4, sponsored and non-sponsored interface elements are selected and grouped based on relevance to a particular entity action.

Returning now to FIG. 5, the illustrated UI display 500 shows a flight status web page. The web page includes: a header 510 to reveal information about flight # 479; and a horizontal list of entity actions 520 that relate to air travel (e.g., airline flights boarding, booking flights to and from an airport, reserving rental cars for a destination city, and accessing restaurant guides). Once the user performs a hover action (e.g., a mouse hover) with respect to one of the interface elements representing a particular entity action, such as a predefined "book shuttle" entity action 525, a compact hover box 534 is displayed below the entity action 525, including sponsored and/or non-sponsored interface elements. As shown in FIG. 5, hover box 534 includes interface elements 540, 550, and 560 that are relevant to only a single sponsored advertiser, as indicated by "sponsored" tab 570.

Without the sponsored label 570, the interface elements 540, 550, and 560 may be identified as originating from a sponsored advertiser, utilizing various techniques, such as applying a different foreground color, background color, or some other highlighted element. It should be noted that: the abstract object-based sponsored interface element (ad) may be surfaced within a horizontal taskbar holding the entity action 520 or within any other area within the webpage that is adjacent to or invoked by the targeted abstract object (e.g., the entity action "scheduled shuttle" 525) or intuitive to the user.

Referring to FIG. 6, a UI display 600 is shown displaying an Airline status search results page that is rendered by the rendering component 356 of FIG. 3 in response to the search query "Airline (Airline) 863". The search results page includes a result item 610 that discloses information about flight # 863. The result item 610 may be rendered in various formats, such as search results, instant answer, and so on. Other result items 660 may also be presented, which also provide content that the search engine considers relevant to the search query. In the right column 620, a set of ads 630 are presented on the search results page, targeting one or more of the following abstract objects: an entity "flights from New York to Sydney, Australia", an entity classification "travel", or a task "planned travel". As illustrated by UI display 600, a user indication (e.g., hovering over an on-entity selector, selecting an entity, selecting an action, etc.) that an interface element representing advertisement 630 is automatically (i.e., without user intervention) presented in proximity to a corresponding abstract object or at a predefined location within a received search results page may emerge.

Advertisements 630 are vertically organized based on the rankings generated by the live auction component 355, with the highest-targeted advertisement 640 being submitted by the highest-ranked advertiser. As shown, each advertisement 630 is sponsored (i.e., submitted by an advertiser when bidding on a search engine). Further, the advertisement 630 is related to an abstract object that is the subject of the search results page, but is not related to the search query in the sense of a keyword. For example, if the subject abstraction of the search results page is the entity "flights from New York to Sydney Australia" and the search query is "airline 863," the highest ranked advertisement 630 includes: an interface element 650 to represent an advertisement for a Sydney shuttle, and an interface element 640 to represent an advertisement for an Australian vacation business. The abstract object-based ads maintained by interface elements 640 and 650 are associated with subject abstract objects and are useful to the user (i.e., it is possible to obtain a high frequency of clicks), as opposed to keyword-based ads, which are only known by the phrase "airline 863".

Referring to FIG. 7, a UI display 700 is illustrated that displays a web page that plays and/or sells music 715. In the web page shown in fig. 7, the song "teas in Heaven" is a subject entity, which is indicated by a title 710. Alternatively, UI display 700 may be displayed as an instant answer within a search results page (not shown). One compact vertical taskbar 705 alongside an instant answer represents entity actions available in the music domain. The hover window shown next to the "shopping cart" icon (representing the entity action "purchased song" 720) displays the vendor that provided the subject entity for sale. Sponsored ads are represented by interface element 740 and distinguished from non-sponsored ads 730 by the label "sponsored" and its position within the hover window (e.g., the extended space visible relative to non-sponsored ads 730).

Referring to fig. 8, a UI display 800 is shown illustrating an instant answer to play and/or sell music. In the web page shown in FIG. 8, the song "Fuges" grouped by music is the subject entity category, as indicated by the title 810. Reference numeral 820 denotes songs available for sampling in an instant answer. Column 830 alongside the instant answer represents the vendor area allocated to hold the advertisement. As shown in FIG. 8, advertisements 840 and 850 are sponsored advertisements. Further, upon receiving a user-initiated selection action, each advertisement 840 and 850 navigates the user to the corresponding advertiser's website, thereby assisting the user in purchasing songs within the subject entity category.

While various embodiments for differentiating between sponsored advertisements and non-sponsored advertisements have been described, it should be understood that: other suitable indicators may be used to alert the user that some advertisements were submitted by sponsored advertisers, while others were not. Further, in some cases, no differentiation indication is provided to separate sponsored advertisements (e.g., when all advertisements are sponsored advertisements).

A system architecture for implementing a method of authentication sharing to improve user experience and abstract object targeting will now be discussed with reference to fig. 9 and 10. Referring initially to FIG. 9, a block diagram is shown illustrating a distributed computing environment 900 suitable for use in implementing embodiments of the present invention. The exemplary computing environment 900 includes a user device 310, a server 350, an advertiser server 910, and a network 380 interconnecting each of these items. It should be noted that like components and devices are denoted by like reference numerals, and for the sake of clarity and brevity those components and devices described in connection with fig. 3 will not be discussed again.

Similar to server 350, advertiser server 910 may take the form of various types of computing devices, such as, for example, computing device 100 described above in connection with FIG. 1. In addition, server 910 includes or is linked to some form of computing unit (e.g., central processing unit, microprocessor, etc.) to support the operation of the components running thereon. As shown, advertiser server 910 represents a computing unit having a storage location remote from server 350; however, in other embodiments, the advertiser server 910 and the server 350 may share resources.

In operation, the ad server 910 is configured to store user information 930 entered by a user (e.g., using the user device 310). In typical embodiments, the user information 930 includes user credentials (e.g., login ID and password), personal data (e.g., address and phone number), financial accounts (e.g., credit card number, bank number, etc.), authentication data (e.g., name, date of birth, social security number), and any other information that the user may provide to the advertiser. The credential-receiving component 357 may access this user information 930, as discussed below.

In operation, the components 354, 357, 358, and 356 of the ad selection service 345 may be designed to perform an auto-complete process of: the user information 930, as well as any other information accessible to the credential-receiving component 357, is used to fill out parts or complete the online form, as shown in fig. 10. First, the input receiving component 354 detects an entity action invoked by the user during a search event. The entity action may be any of the embodiments discussed above, including purchasing a product (e.g., kodak digital camera) or reserving a shuttle (see fig. 10). Further, the entity action may be located within the web page content (e.g., a purchase button), or as a control 1060 within an interface element 1070 for representing the advertisement. In one instance, once a user navigates to a sales camera and displays a web page for purchasing an abstract object-based advertisement for the camera, the user may select an interface element representing the advertisement. In an exemplary embodiment, to complete a purchase, the selection of advertisements is surfaced in a predetermined form 960 within the web browser 322. In one example, referring to fig. 9, surfacing a predefined form 960 includes redirecting a user to a checkout page for a particular entity (e.g., kodak digital camera), where the checkout page is typically owned by an advertiser's website. In another example, referring to FIG. 10, surfacing the predefined form 1030 includes rendering the predefined form as a pop-up display area, wherein the display area is presented such that the predefined form 1030 overlays the content 1020 within the web page. In this case, the predefined form 1030 emerges upon the user navigating to a web page displaying an interface element 1070 for an advertisement (e.g., submitted by the advertiser "Airport Express" shuttle car) and the user selecting the interface element 1070.

Upon receiving a presentation of the predefined form 960 or 1030, the credential-receiving component 357 is configured to dynamically determine the identity of the user conducting the search event and identify the type of data requested by the predefined form 960 or 1030. The credential-receiving component 357 then queries the ad server 910 with the user identity and data type to retrieve relevant user information to complete the predefined form 960 or 1030, or a portion thereof, with precision. The relevant user information is then passed to the autocomplete component 358 for input to the predefined form 960 or 1030.

Upon receiving the relevant user information, the auto-complete component 358 enters the relevant user information at the input locations 980 and 1040 of the predefined form 960 or 1030. In a typical embodiment, the auto-complete component 358 enters relevant user information into a predefined form 960 or 1030 by performing an auto-complete process that includes: accessing one or more predefined forms from an advertiser website; the search engine's ad selection service 345 is used to automatically complete at least part of the predefined form with the user information.

In one example, referring to FIG. 9, the auto-complete component 358 automatically fills out the input location 980 of the predefined form 960 with user authentication information for purchasing a Kodak digital camera. In another example, referring to FIG. 10, the auto-complete component 358 automatically fills in the input location 1040 with data of the content 1020 of the web page. The rendering component 356 then presents the auto-completed input location 1040 for review and approval by the user.

In addition, the predefined form 1030 includes a selectable control 1050 for submitting the predefined form 1030 (e.g., completing a subscription or purchase). By way of example, selectable control 1050 is provided for approving a purchase of a particular entity (e.g., a kodak digital camera), wherein upon approving the purchase, a secure payment is made to the particular entity using the consumer's authentication information. Thus, the user is freed from manually completing all or a portion of the surfaced predefined form, facilitating the act of making an online purchase.

Turning now to FIG. 11, a flow diagram is shown that depicts an illustrative method for monetizing abstract objects in accordance with embodiments of the invention. First, as indicated at block 1110, method 1100 includes the step of providing an index relating to one or more abstract objects. Typically, each abstract object describes a user's specific intent in performing a search event. As discussed more fully below, specific intents may be extracted from a compilation of related user interactions with the search engine.

The method 1100 further comprises the steps of: the method includes receiving a selection of an abstract object from the index (see block 1120), receiving a bid for the selected abstract object (see block 1130), and receiving user interaction information when a user performs a search event at a search engine (see block 1140). Typically, the user interaction information includes query strings, selection actions within the UI, user profiles that capture historical search behavior of the user, and/or query logs that capture historical search behavior of multiple users. Typically, as indicated at block 1150, the user interaction information is matched against the selected abstract object. The bid amount of the matched selected abstraction is charged, and the charge amount is recorded for billing purposes, as indicated by block 1160.

Referring to FIG. 12, a flow diagram is shown depicting an illustrative method 1200 for allowing advertisers to bid on targeted abstract objects in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In an embodiment, the method 1200 includes the step of crawling the network to mine abstract objects, as indicated by block 1210. The method 1200 additionally includes the steps of: an index is constructed with entries that reference abstract objects (see block 1220) and the index is saved in a location accessible to advertisers (see block 1230). When the index is saved in a location accessible to advertisers, those advertisers are then allowed to view entries on the index, target at least one abstract object from the index, and place bids for the targeted abstract object as part of the campaign description. Once the advertising campaign description (advertising campaign specification) is received in the search engine, the search engine stores bids associated with the targeted abstract objects, as indicated by blocks 1240 and 1250.

Embodiments of the present invention are described in the context of abstract object-based advertising via a search engine. However, these embodiments are equally applicable to other systems, such as mobile operating systems (e.g., mobile device 370) or other mobile scenarios (e.g., applets running on a mobile device). For example, a mobile device applet conducts a search event that results in some entity matching a scanned barcode or a photographed object. The search may be monetized by applying the above-described process to generate interface elements for surfacing abstract object-based advertisements. Another scenario covered by embodiments of the present invention involves a voice activated desktop/mobile system whereby instead of conducting an online search event, the user issues a complex command in the form of natural language, such as "mexican restaurant in the vicinity of being open. The results of the command include directly incorporating the advertisement into the proposed action (e.g., booking one of a plurality of restaurants) or indirectly incorporating the advertisement into the proposed action (e.g., displaying an advertisement for a taxi company next to the results for booking flights that depart within an hour from a nearby airport). Other users issue commands instructing the device to run or install one of a plurality of applications for a large market. In response, embodiments of the present invention may select an application for running or installation based on the comparison process described above (e.g., performed by the entity matching component 353) and/or the advertisement selection process (e.g., performed by the live auction execution component 355).

The various embodiments of the present invention have been described for illustrative purposes and not by way of limitation. Alternative embodiments may also sometimes become apparent without departing from the scope of the inventive embodiments. It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This has been contemplated and is within the scope of the claims.

Claims (15)

1. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when specified, perform a method for allowing a first advertiser to bid on an abstract object targeted, the method comprising:

providing an index (1110) in a location accessible to an advertiser, thereby allowing a first advertiser to view entries of the index, wherein the index includes entries that reference one or more abstract objects, wherein each of the one or more abstract objects describes a specific intent of a user in performing a search event, and wherein the specific intent is extracted from a compilation of related user interactions with a search engine;

receiving a description of the campaign from the first advertiser (1120) determining to target at least one abstract object in the index and placing a bid (1130) for the at least one targeted abstract object; and

bids of a first advertiser associated with the at least one targeted abstract object are stored.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein the one or more abstract objects comprise at least one of an entity, an entity class, an entity action, and a task.

3. The medium of claim 2, wherein each entity relates to a person, place, or thing represented by a special online description, wherein each entity classification relates to a set of entities that share a common attribute, wherein each entity action relates to one or more online actions performed by a user via the user's interaction with a search engine, and wherein the one or more online actions are directed to the entity or the entity classification, and wherein each task relates to a sequence of entity actions that are related by being directed to the same entity or the entity classification.

4. The medium of claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving a description of the campaign from the second advertiser that determined to target at least one abstract object in the index and submitting a bid for the at least one targeted abstract object; and

bids of a second advertiser associated with the at least one targeted abstract object are stored.

5. The medium of claim 4, the method further comprising:

receiving user interaction information (1140) while a user performs a search event on a search engine, wherein the user interaction information comprises at least one of a query string, a selection action within a UI, a user profile capturing historical search behavior of the user, or a query log capturing historical search behavior of a plurality of users; and

matching (1150) the user interaction information with the at least one abstract object.

6. The media of claim 5, the method further comprising conducting a live auction to select the advertisement for display to the user.

7. The media of claim 6, wherein conducting a live auction comprises:

accessing stored bids associated with at least one matching abstract object targeted by the first advertiser and the second advertiser; and

an advertisement submitted by the first advertiser or the second advertiser is selected based on the bid received therefrom.

8. The medium of claim 7, wherein selecting an advertisement submitted by the first advertiser or the second advertiser based on the bid received therefrom comprises:

comparing the bid value received from the first advertiser with the bid value received from the second advertiser;

comparing the click probability of the link received from the first advertiser with the click probability of the link received from the second advertiser;

the quality of the advertisement received from the first advertiser is compared to the quality of the advertisement received from the second advertiser.

9. A computer system for selecting advertisements by using and monetizing abstract objects, the computer system comprising a processing unit coupled to a computer storage medium having stored thereon a plurality of computer software components executable by the processing unit, the computer software components comprising:

a publishing component (352) for publishing the index at an online location to allow advertisers (341, 342, and 343) to navigate the index and bid on one or more abstract objects therein to receive bids associated with at least one advertisement submitted for display and to temporarily store the bids associated with the at least one advertisement;

an entity matching component (353) for compiling user interactions during a search event and for comparing one or more compiled user interactions with one or more abstract objects referenced by the index; and

a live auction component (355) for selecting an advertisement associated with the bid received at the publishing component, wherein selecting the advertisement comprises:

(a) identifying abstract objects in the index that match the one or more compiled user interactions based on the comparison using the entity matching component;

(b) identifying bids placed by one or more advertisers targeting the identified abstract objects; and

(c) an advertisement is selected from a plurality of advertisements associated with the identified bid.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising an input receiving component (354) for detecting user interaction while the search engine is performing the search event.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a web-crawling component (351) for mining abstract objects from a record of user interactions with the input-receiving component, wherein each abstract object relates to a person, place, or thing represented by a particular online description, and for building and maintaining an index listing the mined abstract objects.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a rendering component (356) for rendering the selected advertisement in the UI display based on a visual arrangement of related abstract objects rendered within the UI display.

13. A computerized method performed by a search engine running on a processor to monetize abstract objects during an online search event, the method comprising:

providing an index (1110) that references one or more abstract objects, wherein the one or more abstract objects all describe a concrete intent of a user during execution of a search event, and wherein the concrete intent is extracted from a compilation of related user interactions with a search engine;

receiving a selection of at least one abstract object in the index (1120);

receiving bids for the at least one selected abstract object (1130);

receiving user interaction information (1140) when a user conducts a search event at a search engine, wherein the user interaction information comprises at least one of a query string, a selection action within a UI, a user profile capturing historical search behavior of the user, or a query log capturing historical search behavior of a plurality of users;

matching (1150) the user interaction information with the at least one selected abstract object; and

a charge for the bid amount of the matched at least one selected abstract object is recorded (1160).

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

accessing an advertisement for at least one selected abstract object; and

when the user interaction information matches the at least one selected abstract object, presentation of the advertisement to the user within the UI is facilitated.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising conducting a live auction to select an advertisement for display to the user.